The three were sentenced to death for"stealing a car, consuming alcohol during Ramadan, kidnapping a boy under armed threat, taking him out into the desert and sodomising him after forcing him to drink alcohol with them," the agency said, quoting a statement by the Ministry of the Interior.

The executions bring to 12 the number announced by Saudi Arabia this year, according to an AFP tally based on official statements.

Executions generally take place in public in the conservative kingdom, which applies a strict form of sharia, or Islamic law, imposing the death penalty for murder, rape, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking.

At least 52 people were executed in Saudi Arabia last year, and 48 in 2002.